Apparatus for attaching metal vial seals



A. s. TAYLOR ETAL 2,850,859

APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING METAL vIAL SEALS Sept. 9, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed July 18, 1956 IN V EN TORS. ARTHUR S. TAYLOR EL L5 WO/i TH R. SANDHA GE ATTOR/VEX P 1958 A. s. TAYLOR ETAL 2,850,859

APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING METAL VIAL SEALS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS.ARTHUR 5. TAYLOR BgLLSWORTH R. SANDHAGE Filed July 18, 1956 MmwkATTORNEY.

of the components.

United States Patent APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING METAL VIAL SEALS Arthur S.Taylor, Spring Valley, and Ellsworth R. Sandhage, Pearl River, N. Y.,assignors to American Cyanamid Company, New York, N. Y., a corporationof Maine Application July 18, 1956, Serial No. 598,614

1 Claim. (Cl. 53-310) This invention relates to a machine for curling asoft metal retaining seal around a resilient stopper in a vial to holdthe stopper in the vial.

In pharmaceutical practice it has been customary to use glass vials forvarious serums, medicaments, medicines, and antibiotics which areprepared for hypodermic adminstration as well as other materials. In theneck of the vial is placed a resilient stopper of rubber, or a rubbersubstitute, with suitable means such as a metallic seal for retainingthe stopper in position. Usually the seal has been of aluminum, and hasbeen placed over the stopper and the rim on the neck of the vial, andspun into position by using a plurality of rotating forming wheels whichdraw the metal under the rim. Such machines have required acomparatively large space because the rotating forming wheels, as theyspin around the edge of the rim were fairly bulky, and room for theoperation had to be maintained. Secondly, an additional difficulty hasbeen that the drawing of the metal under the rim of the neck of the vialhas been accomplished by a lateral action, and under many circumstancesthe stopper and the seal have not been firmly pressed against the faceof the vial during the spinning operation thus permitting leaks aroundthe stopper.

By the present device such leaks are obviated because the stopper andthe seal are firmly pressed into position independent of variations inthe manufacturing tolerances The space on a production line required forthe present device is much less than that which has been required bypreviously developed machines. This saving of space is particularlyconvenient if two vials are pressed or clipped together, as for examplemay be expedient in using a dry component and a liquid component whichare to be stored together for admixture at time of use. A double vialwith two parallel spaced necks is useful for such components, butpreviously the lack of machines for closing such vials has renderedtheir use impractical.

It has been found that metallic seals, usually referred to in theindustry as aluminum seals, may be curled around in position by using asplit curling die which embraces the neck of the vial and has a curlingflange or inturned flange on the bottom. For such a die to be placedover the neck of the vial it is necessary that it be split so that itcan be placed over the neck of the vial in at least two sections, andthen closed for use in the curling operation. The closed curling die isgenerally cylindrical with an inturned flange at the bottom, there beinga slightly rounded fillet between the cylindrical portion and the curvedportion, so that as the leading edge of the aluminum seal is forced downthe cylindrical portion, it touches the fillet and is turned inward bythe flange, and thus curled under the rim on the neck of the vial. Theopen seals are fed by suitable means to above the curling die, and thenforced downward by a ram into the curlingldie and around both thestopper and the rim on the vial, and into position. Because the ram isforcing the seal downward, it necessarily presses the resilient stoppermore firmly into position than has been previously possible incommercial operations, and

the curling die action draws the metal of the seal under the rim in sucha fashion that the stopper is positively retained in position.

The vial feeding means for positioning the vials may be any which areconvenient, providing that it is resiliently positioned so that the vialmay be pressed downward by the ram and the rim of the bottle acts inconjunction with the curling die under the influence of the ram to curlthe seal. Obviously, if the vial were supported at the wrong height bythe feed mechanism an adequate curling action could not be obtained orthe vial would be broken.

It will be obvious the same type of sealing action takes place whether aone-, two-, or three-piece seal is being used so that the considerationsdictating the type of seal to be used need not be influenced by theclosing operation. The accompanying drawings illustrate a particularmodification of our invention in which:

Figure 1 is a front view in partial section showing the curling dieopen, and the ram in its upper position.

Figure 2 shows the curling die closed, and the ram partway down havingpicked up a seal, with a stoppered vial in sealing position.

Figure 3 shows closing action complete with the ram having forced theseal into position and curled it under the lip of the vial.

Figure 4 has a sectional view showing the seal curled under the rim ofthe bottle.

Figure 5 is a top view of the curling die showing the die in openposition, as a new vial moves to position on the conveyor.

Figure 6 is a top view of the closed curling die.

Figure 7 is an exploded view of a three-piece seal.

Figure 8 is an exploded view of a one-piece seal.

In these drawings for the purpose of illustration a preferred form ofapparatus for the practice of the present invention is shown. A vialconveyor belt 11, having thereon spaced vials 15, passes over a vialconveyor belt support 12 which is resiliently supported by a supportspring 13, which is protected by the dust shield 14. This provides asuitable series of vials for sealing, and provides a resilient supportwhereby commercial variations in vial size are allowed for, and thevials are resiliently supported at a proper level for the sealingoperation. On the vial conveyor belt are placed the vials 15, as shownin Figures 1 and 5. As the individual vials approach the sealingposition, they are positioned so that the neck of the vial 16 and therim of the vial 17, in which is placedthe resilient stopper 18, isbetween parts 19 and 20 of a two-part curling die. The two parts of thecurling die, as shown at 19 and 20, oscillate in curling die guides 21and 22 under the control of the curling die closing rods 23 and 24. Inposition the curling die halves are closed about the neck of the vialand just under the rim so that the inturned flange 25 on the curling dieextends under the rim of the vial. A curling fillet 26 connects thecylindrical portion of the closed curling die, and the inturned flange25. Over the closing position is the ram 27 which slides in a ram guide28. The ramis raised and lowered by the ram operating lever 29.Underneath the face of the ram and above the curling die a seal 30 isretained in position by a seal supporting detent 31, which is a springloaded member to hold the seals, as they come from the seal feed chute32, in position above the curling die.

After the curling die has been closed the ram moves downward as shown inFigure 2, picking up an individual seal, forcing it past the sealpositioning detent 31, and down over the stopper 18, the rim of the vial17, and against the inturned flange of the curling die. As the PatentedSept. 9, 1958 leading edge of the seal 33 touches the fillet, connectingthe cylindrical portion and the inturned flange, it is forced by thefillet 26 underneath the rim of the vial, and as shown in Figure 3 isforced under and in contact with the bottom of the rim of the vialthereby firmly positioning the seal in position on the neck of the vial,under the rim of the vial, and holding the resilient stopper firmly inposition. The stopper is thus firmly forced into and held in the vial.Figure 4 shows a sectional view of the completed container showing how aleading edge 33 of the seal has been forced under the rim of the vial17.

The seal may consist of a three-piece seal, as shown in Figure 7,consisting of the tear-01f cover 34, the dust disc 35, and the retainingring 36; or a single one-piece seal 37 may be used depending upon theproduct being packaged, and the preferences of the manufacturer anduser.

As will be obvious minor variations may be introduced, such as using athree-piece instead of a two-piece curling die, or using hydraulic poweror electrical solenoids to actuate the closing ram rather than amechanical closing means, or the other variations within the scope ofthe appendant claim.

We claim:

An apparatus for curling a soft metal seal around a resilient stopper ina vial which comprises: resilient means for positioning a vial, a splitcurling die, means for clos- References Cited in the file of this patentUNITED STATES PATENTS Chellis July 22, 1913 Stone June 3, 1919

